Hot and cold beverage cups composed of molded synthetic polymer foams are well known. Such synthetic polymer foam cups have been found to constitute a technically effective means by which to contain hot or cold drinks because the synthetic polymer foam materials utilized in their manufacture, such as polystyrene foam, are effective thermal insulators and do not ordinarily introduce foreign tastes into the beverages contained therein. Their effective thermal insulation value serves well in preserving the thermal state of the beverages contained therein and, in addition, in preventing the exterior of the cup from becoming uncomfortably cold or hot to the user. However, such synthetic polymer foam cups do suffer from a major and widely recognized deficiency; namely, they are not biodegradable and thus represent significant environmental and waste disposal problems after use. In one aspect extensive use of such cups can result in serious cosmetically unattractive blighting of the environment when they are improperly discarded by a careless or uncaring public. In another aspect, even if properly discarded by a careful public into proper waste receptacles, such polymer foam cups continue to pose a waste disposal problem in that, if improperly incinerated, such cups can release styrene, soot and other noxious by-product materials into the atmosphere. Indeed, the environmental and waste disposal problems posed by discarded polystyrene foam cups have become so apparent that various jurisdictions have either banned their by statute or legislative fiat or, alternatively, the retail food purveyors of a particular geographic jursidiction have agreed amongst themselves to avoid their use. One example of this last-mentioned response to the environmental problems posed by the demonstrated unrestrained disposal of the public's synthetic polymer foam drinking cups presently exists on the island of Martha's Vineyard, Dukes County, Mass. There, restaurants, convenience stores, cafeterias and other retail purveyors serving the "take-out" food trade have agreed amongst themselves, without express legislative action by governmental political bodies, to forego the use of synthetic polymer foam cups in their retail packaging of beverages. The beneficial effects of the implementation of this agreement have been essentially immediately apparent, said effects being a palpable and substantial reduction in the cosmetically unattractive fouling of the land and waters of this island with discarded non-biodegradable polymer foam drinking cups and/or the broken remnants thereof and, of course, a substantial reduction in the problems associated with effectuating environmentally safe disposal of such polymer foam cup wares.
On the other hand, more environmentally acceptable beverage cups composed of biodegradable paper or paperboard elements in which the principal constitutent is a cellulosic or vegetable fiber have also been long known. The presently known paper beverage cups are single layer structures which are rendered adequately waterproof to serve their temporary beverage storage function by being internally coated or impregnated with a thin coating of a paraffin or a microcrystalline wax (cold beverages) or with a thin coating of a synthetic high polymer having a high melting point, such as polypropylene or polyethylene (hot beverages). The principal operational problem experienced with such single layer paper beverage cups, however, resides in the fact that their thermal insulation value is low. Thus, heat exchange between the exterior environment and a beverage contained within such presently known paper cups is relatively rapid. In the case of cold beverages this means that heat is rapidly extracted from the relatively warmer surrounding environment (which includes the hand of the user in contact with the exterior of the cup) and into the cold beverage, thereby quickly warming the beverage, often to the extent that it becomes unpalatable before it is fully consumed. Too, on occasion, the exterior of the cup may become uncomfortably cold to the user. On the other hand, in the case of hot beverage contents, such as soup, coffee, tea or hot chocolate, heat is rapidly extracted therefrom through the cup and is delivered into the cooler exterior environment which also includes the contacting hand of the user. Thus, not only is the temperature of the contained hot beverage undesirably and rapidly reduced by this heat exchange, sometimes to the point of unpalatability of the contents, but also the temperature of the exterior of the cup usually becomes uncomfortably hot. Where this last occurs, it is common human behavior that the user will often respond protectively to such discomfort by repetitively switching the cup from hand to hand throughout its use. Such a protective manipulative technique is obviously bothersome and gives rise to increased opportunities for accidental spillage of the hot beverage contents.
As a partially successful response to the problem of the discomfort commonly encountered in the handling of prior art paper beverage cups it is also known to provide such cups, particularly those specifically directed to the containment of hot beverages, with a fold-out paper handle secured to the exterior thereof. The fold-out feature of the handle is necessary in order to preserve stackability of the cups, such that they may be nested one within the other to form a compact stack for storage, packaging, shipping and/or dispensing purposes. While such a fold-out handle does somewhat reduce the area of contact between the exterior of the cup and the hand of the user the need to establish a lesser, but still substantial, contact with one or more fingers of the user's hand generally remains. For instance, the fold-out type paper handle when deployed usually defines an opening through which a finger of the user's hand is intended to be received. Generally, at least a portion of the dorsal surface of the finger received into the handle's opening finds itself in contact with the excessively hot or cold exterior surface of the cup. Too, in manipulating such a paper cup for drinking purposes, it is usually found that at least some additional support by other finger(s) of the hand is needed, particularly so when the cup is freshly filled to capacity and thus is at its heaviest and the beverage contained therein is at its hottest (or coldest) temperature. Finally, such cups are essentially no better in preserving the thermal state of their beverage contents than their non-handled counterparts.
In accordance with the present invention the foregoing problems relating to the polymeric foam and paper beverage cups of the prior art have been successfully addressed.